Indian Accounts or Response Forms

Scope and Content

A series of accounts or response forms concerning Indian districts. These are handwritten on Indian paper and the accounts are accompanied by letters. One of these has been identified as an 'arzee' or response form from a junior to a senior. The junior identifies himself as Syed Mehdi Hasan and he is responding to a question posed as to whether or not the provinces demarcated in the Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Faz still exist. The response is that there are many changes which Syed Mehdi Hasan then lists. This letter is dated to 1844.

Further material has yet to be identified. One sheet bears the English words 'Benares and Mirzapore' (Varanasi and Mirzapur).

Access Information

Open. Please contact the archivist. Details can be found here. The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

Acquisition Information

The source of acquisition is unknown.

Note

The interpretative details were provided by Naveena Naqui, Assistant Professor of Persianate Islamic Cultures of South Asia, University of British Colombia, in 2015.

Archivist's Note

These papers were catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2022.

Conditions Governing Use

Digital photography (without flash) for research purposes may be permitted upon completion of a copyright declaration form, and with respect to current UK copyright law.

Custodial History

These papers were created in India. It is unknown how they came to be part of the Royal Asiatic Society's collections.

Personal Names